Korea’s top steelmaker POSCO and U.S. energy giant General Electric have teamed up to strengthen their partnership in future energy projects, especially the development of related steel plates, POSCO officials said Thursday.

POSCO CEO Chung Joon-yang and GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt held their first official meeting at a Seoul hotel on Thursday to sign a memorandum of understanding to further extend cooperation on five key areas.

“GE reminds me of Thomas Edison, creativeness and innovation. POSCO has also grown into a global company based on the spirit that ‘resources are limited but creativity is unlimited,’” Chung was quoted as saying by company officials.

“As we share a similar innovative DNA, I see a full potential for synergy the two companies will create when it comes to our joint business.”

According to POSCO officials, the two global companies started talks on a potential partnership from July last year on the working-level, even though it was the first time for their leaders to meet in person.

Under the POSCO-GE MOU, they first agreed to jointly participate in the coming biddings to build new power plants or renovation projects in Korea and abroad.

POSCO will be responsible for the construction and operation of the facilities, while GE will provide related equipment such as turbines and boilers.

They also will work together in developing special steel materials used in energy development that are resistant to extreme environments such as the polar region and deep sea.

Based on POSCO’s abundant overseas experiences and GE’s global network, the two plan to carry out infrastructure development projects in emerging markets, possibly starting with Southeast Asian countries.

The information and communications technology sector was also cited for their future joint business as they agreed to work on developing the IT management system of power plants.

They will also strengthen exchanges on management as they share each other’s management know-how regarding corporate culture and training personnel, officials said.

“The MOU reflects GE’s growth strategy based on a long-term partnership with a Korean company. POSCO has also continued putting more emphasis on steel materials for energy and power plant projects,” POSCO said in a statement.

The MOU with POSCO came as GE, which has a varied business portfolio in healthcare, finance and electronics, is stressing the energy sector, which accounted for 31 percent of the company’s sales last year.

POSCO was also seeking new revenue sources amid the gloomy outlook about the global steel industry.

Following the acquisitions of Daewoo International and Sungjin Geotec recently, the company has expended its presence in global resource development and offshore plants while working on new steel plates for energy development.

The two companies plan to organize a joint committee which will carry out specific plans across five agreed areas and monitor the progress on a regular basis, officials said.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)